Audley Boyd, Assistant Editor - Sport

DENNIS

JUVANE Benjamin scored nine minutes from time to hand Jamaica's Under-17s a crucial 1-0 win over the Dominican Republic, in a Group E Caribbean Football Union Youth Cup match, at Fatima College in Trinidad and Tobago, yesterday.

Jamaica needed to win the match to top the group and they had to fight tooth and nail against the Dominican Republic team, which was reduced to 10 players following an early sending off.

"It wasn't really tough," Carlton Dennis, head of delegation for Jamaica, told The Gleaner in a telephone interview. "The opponents needed a draw and they played behind the ball ... They played a very defensive game. They were defending well and we were missing a lot of chances."

The victory, Jamaica's third in a row following respective 5-1 and 6-0 wins over Antigua and Barbuda and The Netherland Antilles, pushed them to nine points, three more than The Dominican Republic, which had also won its opening matches.

The competition's six group winners and two best runners-up advanced to tomorrow's quarter-finals, which will see Jamaica tackling Guadeloupe in the feature game at Guaracara Park, at 5 p.m. (Ja time). Guadeloupe topped Group F after hammering Suriname 5-0 yesterday. Cuba and Bermuda will play in the opening game.

The Cubans demolished St Vincent and the Grenadines 10-0 yesterday and Dominica beat Turks and Caicos 2-0 in the other Group A match.

In Group B, St Kitts/Nevis beat Cayman Islands 2-0; Trinidad and Tobago mauled Aruba 9-0 in Group C; and the Netherlands Antilles and Antigua and Barbuda drew 2-2.

In the other quarter-finals tomorrow, at Marvin Lee Stadium, Haiti will meet St Vincent and the Grenadines and hosts Trinidad and Tobago will meet the Dominican Republic.

Jamaica played without two top players, influential captain Ashani Fairclough, who had picked up yellow cards in successive games; and Jamie Hyde, who had one yellow card.

"We rested (Hyde) because he was on one yellow card and we didn't want to risk him today," Dennis explained. "But everybody is available for the quarter-final game."

Better and better

He added: "Every game we play we're looking better and better. Based on what we know, Guadeloupe always produce some good teams. But we're confident we can go all the way in this competition. But we're taking it one game a the time."

The winners and runners-up will advance to the CONCACAF Under-17 Finals in Mexico, in April next year. The top four will then advance from that tournament to FIFA's U17 Youth World Cup in Nigeria.